This is how we do it...

Soooooo...it is about that time...progress reports!

I wanted to take a minute to explain my literacy class.  You notice I said literacy...not Literacy/Social Studies.  There is a reason.  I teach READING and WRITING.  The social studies content (American history) will be taught through those disciplines.  The focus will be on the skills and strategies one needs to know to be a successful reader and writer.  The history part is secondary.  I will use short non-fiction works and picture books (possibly a novel during the Revolutionary War) to teach the basic historical concepts that 5th graders need to know.  Most of this will begin during the second nine weeks when we specifically study non-fiction texts.

I guess my purpose for writing this blog is to tell you that your child's social studies grade at this point is strictly participation in class.  We have not begun to cover social studies standards.  We have been working on procedures, and getting the basics of the workshop model down.  We are still in that process, though we are rolling along much smoother as the weeks pass.

I feel very strongly that if I can get your child reading and writing proficiently, then they will be able to do well in ALL the other subjects they have in school.   American history will not be neglected, but I will not be handing out vocabulary words, taking notes or giving tests over social studies content.  I will be teaching it through reading texts and writing about what we've read.

Constitution week will be coming up in September.  We will be studying the writing of the Constitution and its importance then and now.  Then we will discuss the Native people of our country and how exploration changed both the area now known as the United States as well as how it affected Europe.  We will begin to look at colonization and the Revolutionary war in our 2nd nine weeks.  We will focus on government in the 3rd nine weeks and finish our year with Westward expansion.

If you have any questions concerning social studies or literacy, please feel free to contact me.  Just don't PANIC when your child doesn't have much on his/her social studies progress report.

Happy reading-